{"id":275227,"date":"2016-10-25T13:55:18","date_gmt":"2016-10-25T12:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=275227"},"modified":"2016-10-25T13:55:18","modified_gmt":"2016-10-25T12:55:18","slug":"att-time-warner-merger-direct-result-clinton-deceit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/editorials\/att-time-warner-merger-direct-result-clinton-deceit\/","title":{"rendered":"AT&T – Time Warner Merger Is A Direct Result of Clinton Deceit"},"content":{"rendered":"

(RINF<\/a>) – The 1996 Telecommunications Act, during the Bill and Hillary Clinton co-presidency, deregulated all communication industries – paving the way for greater consolidation, less competition, less concern about diversity and choice, and higher profits at the expense of consumer-friendly policies.<\/p>\n

\n

At the time, Vice President Al Gore deceitfully called the measure an \u201cearly Christmas present for the consumers.\u201d Its fallout was polar opposite.<\/span><\/p>\n

Media scholar\/critic Robert McChesney called the law \u201ca farce,\u201d in part \u201cwritten by the lobbyists for the communication firms it affects.\u201d All that mattered then and now is maximizing profits, serving private, not public interests.<\/span><\/p>\n

One longtime lobbyist said he\u2019d never seen anything like the Telecommunications Act before, calling \u201c(t)he silence of public debate (at the time) deafening. A bill with such astonishing impact on all of us (was) not even being (publicly) discussed\u201d – except as a business story unrelated to the public interest.<\/span><\/p>\n

McChesney said it reflected \u201ccapitalist democracy at its best.\u201d Nearly everything touted about it was false. Consumers got higher, not lower prices. Industries supporting the legislation claimed it would create 1.5 million new jobs. By 2003, half a million were lost.<\/span><\/p>\n

Numerous studies documented how media conglomerates invest less in providing news and information, the quality of what\u2019s offered deplorable by any standard.<\/span><\/p>\n

AT&T\u2019s proposed acquisition of Time Warner will be disastrous to consumers if approved. Media scholar Victor Pickard said it\u2019ll \u201ccreate a media behemoth with dangerous concentrations of political and economic power.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>With one corporation controlling so much production and distribution of news and entertainment media, this vertical integration poses significant potential hazards for millions of consumers\u2026It raises serious antitrust concerns.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s certain to worsen the media and telecommunications landscape, putting too much power in the hands of a corporate giant, greater consolidation in both industries they represent certain to follow.<\/span><\/p>\n

Free Press policy director Matt Wood issued a statement, saying \u201c(a)ny time <\/span>you hear media executives talking about synergies, throwing around the business-babble that always accompanies these rumors, you know it\u2019s time grab your wallet and hang on tight.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBig mergers like this inevitably mean higher prices for real people, to pay down the money borrowed to finance these deals and their golden parachutes.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe deals are driven by Wall Street\u2019s insatiable desire for short term growth at any cost. And just as AT&T\u2019s recent purchase of DirecTV was quickly followed by price hikes, there\u2019s every reason to expect this potential tie-up would cost internet users and TV viewers dearly too.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be a bonanza for Wall Street, if approved. According to Bloomberg<\/span><\/a>, major banks \u201care writing some of their biggest checks ever to\u201d finance the deal for enormous fees it represents, along with subsequent bond offerings likely to find eager buyers.<\/span><\/div>\n

JPMorgan Chase pledged an astonishing $25 billion for the significant return it could yield. According to banking consultant Bert Ely, \u201c(t)his could be an especially lucrative deal for the banking industry. They\u2019re going to make a lot of money if the deal gets done.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump opposes it, warning of \u201ctoo much concentration of power.\u201d Hillary is a notorious Wall Street tool, partnered with husband Bill on the 1996 Telecommunications Act, likely to support what demands opposition.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the weekend, her campaign declined to comment on her position. Major Wall Street banks didn\u2019t pay her millions of dollars in speaking fees to oppose it – or challenge certain greater media and telecommunications consolidation to follow.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.claritypress.com\/LendmanIII.html<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(RINF) – The 1996 Telecommunications Act, during the Bill and Hillary Clinton co-presidency, deregulated all communication industries – paving the way for greater consolidation, less competition, less concern about diversity and choice, and higher profits at the expense of consumer-friendly policies. At the time, Vice President Al Gore deceitfully called the measure an \u201cearly Christmas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":275348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[461,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-275227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-editorials","8":"category-latest-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}